American Finance Trust Inc. announced last week that it is disposing of three office buildings in Bridgewater that are leased to Sanofi S.A. for $261 million to an undisclosed buyer.
AFIN purchased the property in 2014 for $251 million and Sanofi, which has been using it as its U.S. headquarters, is exiting the property, but no date has been announced.
According to American Finance Trust, as of Dec. 31, 2019, Sanofi’s lease at the 674,325 sq. ft. building expires in December 2032.
As was reported by Real Estate New Jersey, CBRE’s Tristate Institutional Properties team — which includes Jeff Dunne, Jeremy Neuer, Steve Bardsley, Travis Langer, David Gavin and Zach McHale — was marketing the property for sale as of mid-November, when the firm announced an unrelated deal in Bridgewater.
The New York-based real estate investment trust also said in its announcement that it will use the proceeds of the Bridgewater portfolio sale to fund part of its $1.3 billion acquisition of an 81-property, multitenant power, anchored and grocery center portfolio from CIM Real Estate Finance Trust Inc.
Upon closing, AFIN said it will be the preeminent REIT focused on necessity-based retail, with a best-in-class portfolio that will comprise over 1,000 properties, 29 million square feet and $382 million in annualized straight-line rent.
In connection with the transaction, AFIN will be rebranded to “The Necessity Retail REIT | Where America Shops” and trade under the new ticker “RTL.”
Both transactions are expected to close during the first quarter of 2022.
“This immediately accretive off-market transaction represents a unique value creation opportunity. We are adding significant scale while further enhancing our best-in-class portfolio with pandemic-tested assets on accretive terms,” said Michael Weil, CEO of AFIN.
